Man jailed for selling sick puppies then going on run

A man has been jailed for selling sick puppies after going on the run for almost two years

Patrick Ward was importing puppies and selling them. But the RSPCA began an investigation after buyers complained that the animals they bought were sick.

Puppies kept at Ward's farm. Photo: RSPCA

RSPCA Inspector Pippa Boyd, who led the investigation into the puppy sellers, said: “We launched an investigation into Mr Ward, his brother and his sister-in-law after receiving a number of complaints from members of the public who had purchased puppies that had soon fallen ill after arriving home.

“We believe the trio were importing puppies and then selling them on from two addresses in Leigh.

“When we joined police to execute two warrants at the properties in February 2016 we found a number of dogs and other evidence.

“At one address - in Windermere Road - we found a number of phones labelled with different dog breeds. At the other - in Douglas Road - we found three dogs, one with an untreated broken pelvis, and the body of a dead Jack Russell terrier left in a kennel.”

Ward, 40, of Windermere Road, Leigh, Wigan, and two co-defendants were found guilty in their absence in August 2016 of a string of animal welfare offences relating to the sale of puppies in the Greater Manchester area.

He then went on the run for almost two years, but this week he was sentenced at Wigan Magistrates’ Court to 22 weeks in prison having been arrested by police.

He was also disqualified from keeping all animals for 10 years and ordered to pay a £150 victim surcharge.